Chapter 190: The Kakin Twins
"Deepest apologies, but you cannot have an audience with His Majesty the King. Please wait patiently for the next banquet." The guards stopped the Ninth Prince outside the Kakin King's resting area.
"Then it'll be too late. That's why I'm requesting to see Father." The Ninth Prince took out a letter from his robe and continued, "At least deliver this letter to Father for me."
The royal guard accepted the envelope and said, "I can only pass your letter to Chief Steward Morisi for safekeeping. You'd better wait until the next banquet to deliver it directly to the King."
"I'll come again tomorrow. Please keep the letter for now." The Ninth Prince turned to leave, but after two steps suddenly paused and looked back at the royal guard with utmost seriousness. "The day after tomorrow, and the day after that—I'll come every day until I see Father."
Meanwhile, with the Tenth Prince, Kacho's psychological defenses had finally been breached by Melody.
"Melody! I'm calling you, come here quickly!"
Hearing Kacho's summons, Melody immediately rushed over. She found Kacho sitting at the desk in the main hall. Seeing Melody approach, Kacho looked up and said, "Come teach me."
The guard standing beside Kacho at that moment happened to be from the First Prince's private troops.
Hearing Kacho's words, Melody was somewhat bewildered. This child wanted to study? While the succession war was raging fiercely, Kacho was preparing to do holiday homework?
Although Kacho was indeed still a student, shouldn't she remember her identity as a prince?
Melody mentally complained.
Kacho continued in her usual indifferent tone, "What's wrong? Thinking that since I'm going to die soon anyway, studying would be pointless?"
Melody frantically waved her hands in denial, "No, not at all! I never thought anything like that!"
Kacho kept her head down while writing something and said to Melody, "Alright then, I'm the one who understands this best. But I have a contrary personality—it's precisely in situations like this that I feel motivated."
After speaking, Kacho pointed her pen at Melody and continued, "You're the closest to my age in this room, meaning you're the most recent from your student days."
As Kacho spoke, Melody suddenly heard a strange, rhythmic "beep beep beep" sound.
The sound was extremely faint, nearly undetectable if one wasn't listening carefully, but to Music Hunter Melody's ears, it was crystal clear.
A flash of surprise crossed Melody's eyes. This child who was still in school was actually using ultrasonic principles to transmit Morse code to her.
Meanwhile, Kacho continued speaking to Melody with an unchanged expression, "What subject were you best at back then?"
While saying this, Kacho used Morse code to transmit another message to Melody: "Can you hear me? If yes, answer 'music'."
From the corner of her eye, Melody noticed that the Morse code sounds were coming from Kacho's other hand.
Their eyes met.
Though Kacho's exterior remained cold as ice, her heart was practically in her throat.
Because Melody's response would determine her entire future.
After a moment of silence, Melody answered, "I wasn't very good at studying. If I had to say, I was better at music."
Kacho then pretended to be annoyed.
"Hah? Are you making fun of me? Do I look like I want to learn an instrument right now?"
"That's enough, I'll handle it myself. You may leave!"
Melody, equally skilled in acting, feigned fluster as she replied, "My apologies, I'll take my leave now."
Melody had just received the new Morse code message from Kacho.
Underneath the left corner of the kitchen cabinet.
All this intelligence exchange had been conducted right under the noses of the First Prince's private soldiers.
Afterward, Melody departed, giving a slight nod to Kacho as she left. She then made her way to the kitchen and, after searching thoroughly, actually discovered what Kacho had asked her to find.
It turned out to be a children's toy, with the instruction manual titled "Ultrasonic Transmitter" and subtitled "Secrets Adults Can't Hear" among other descriptions.
Holding the device that seemingly used ultrasonic waves to transmit secret messages, Melody now fully understood Kacho's entire plan.
This young girl not only wanted to sacrifice herself to protect her younger sister—she was also desperately seeking opportunities to survive, hoping to take her sister and start a new, danger-free life.
She was fighting with all her might, thinking hard about how to stay alive!
The image of Kacho's brave facade flashed in Melody's mind, making her heart ache with particular sorrow.
She silently vowed to herself:
"I will save you. I absolutely will!"
...
Twelfth Prince's Living Quarters.
Momoze, noticing the sudden smile on Mord's face, asked, "M-Mord-sama? Has something happened?"
Mord smiled and nodded. "It's your two sisters. They're much braver than you used to be, especially the Tenth Prince, Kacho."
"Kacho and Fugetsu are both very kind people. Please, Mord-sama, you mustn't let anything happen to them," Momoze urged, recalling her own past experiences.
Momoze looked up at Mord.
If this man hadn't appeared that night, the one who would have died in this Succession War wouldn't have been the Eighth Prince—it would have been me.
The next day.
Eleventh Prince Fugetsu's Area.
Fugetsu was currently very excited because she had successfully summoned that door again.
After all, no matter how hard she had tried before, the door simply wouldn't appear.
Fugetsu quickly reasoned, "I get it now. This magic can only be used once per day. That explains why I was so exhausted after crawling back through the passage yesterday."
Staring at the door before her, Fugetsu thought seriously: "Where should I try going today? I was lucky yesterday that Kacho happened to be on the bed. If the guards had seen me, it would've been disastrous. First, I need to confirm whether this passage really leads anywhere."
"If we can escape from this ship, Kacho and I could..." Fugetsu's eyes sparkled as a possibility she had never dared imagine surfaced in her mind—the chance to flee the ship with her sister and live the life they truly wanted.
It was this very wish that instantly filled Fugetsu with motivation and hope.
She began earnestly considering the feasibility.
"I need to research this properly. First, is it really limited to one use per day as I suspected? If so, does 'one day' reset at midnight, or is it a strict 24-hour cooldown?"
"Then can I go anywhere? Can any number of people pass through? Can this door be opened elsewhere, or only from my bed?"
"And can the round-trip locations be changed? How long will it remain if unused from the moment it appears?"
"We don't even know if we can return after going through the door! Is it possible to turn back midway through the passage or change destinations along the way?"
"There are so many things I need to verify!!!"